62m connected vehicles by 2023

A new report from Juniper Research has revealed that over 62 million vehicles will be equipped with V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) communication by 2023, up from just over 1.1 million in 2019. V2V solutions enable low-latency communications between vehicles, notably for the purpose of driver safety.

The study, Consumer Connected Cars: Telematics, In-Vehicle Apps & Connected Car Commerce 2018-2023, found that roll-outs of 5G networks, anticipated to launch next year, will be the key accelerator behind the expansion of V2V communications.

Lower latency

Juniper Research predicts that OEMs will gravitate towards 5G for V2V communications over other technologies owing to its lower latency (delay in transmitting data) and high range.

The jump from 1.1 million V2V-equipped cars in 2019 to 62 million four years later, represents an average growth rate of 173% over these four years.

Juniper found that the move towards 5G will expedite commercial deployments and interoperability and predicted that the US will become the leading market for V2V deployments. According to the report, 60% of new vehicles sold in the US will be V2V-capable by 2023.

Long vehicle refresh rates

Research author Sam Barker said: “The safety benefits of V2V are clear, however no incumbent technology can provide the network conditions across the entirety of road networks. 5G will be the key facilitating technology of these automotive safety features, however long vehicle refresh rates, typically around 8-12 years, will hinder mass adoption.”

The research also predicted that OEMs will explore new strategies to generate revenues beyond the vehicle sale, including in-vehicle content subscriptions. It predicted that revenues from directly-integrated vehicle apps will exceed $2.2 billion by 2023. Juniper advised that in addition to leveraging 5G networks, OEMs must open up their in-vehicle ecosystems to third parties in order to accelerate the development of emerging and future automotive content revenue streams.